The launch of a tour school for the PGA North Region has been welcomed by Selby golf professional Adam Ledger (left). The Selby Golf Club assistant, who competes on both the Euro Pro and North Region tours, said: “I think it’s a really good idea rather than having to keep going to events for which you still have to pre-qualify. It’s definitely much better as sometimes you find yourself playing for nothing at the end of the day.”

The new initiative replaces the previous policy of running qualifying rounds for the bigger tournaments with two-day 36-hole events at Normanton and Dunscar. The Selby club’s head professional Nick Ludwell, a former North Region Order of Merit winner, was not available for comment but is expected to be competing in the nine-event tour once again this year along with the Yorkshire PGA tour.

Regional secretary Graham Maly explained: “We are holding them (the schools) before the season gets fully underway so that players will know their rankings and be able to plan their diaries much earlier than normal. It’s also a cost-cutting exercise because they won’t have to leave their workplace as often to travel up and down the region which is time-consuming.

“Any player who fails to secure an automatic qualifying spot in the first event (April 17/18 at Normanton) may enter the second one (April 25/26 at Dunscar) to improve their ranking position. “In total there will be 60 qualifying spots but exempt players are also required to confirm their entry.”And he added: “The South and East regions have already adopted the system which has been well received.”

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La Quinta, Calif. • Mark Wilson made a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win the Humana Challenge on Sunday, beating Robert Garrigus, John Mallinger and Johnson Wagner by two strokes in a dramatic dusk finish to the wind-delayed tournament.

Moments after Garrigus barely missed a 35-foot eagle putt that would have given him the lead, Wilson coolly made his birdie try in the disappearing light, calmly celebrating his fifth career PGA Tour victory.

“Robert and I, going back and forth, we really enjoyed that,” Wilson said. “It just came down to 18, and I didn’t want to give him a chance to make that putt to tie me. ... That’s what we play for. You want somebody to win it, not necessarily to lose it.”

Wilson led by three strokes Sunday morning after finishing his third round, which was delayed by ferocious wind Saturday. Wilson quickly gave away the lead on the low-scoring Palmer Private course, but played bogey-free over the final 15 holes while every other competitor dropped back — including Garrigus, who fell out of the lead when he missed a 51/2-foot par putt on the 17th.

Wilson closed with a 3-under 69 to finish at 24 under, taking the $1,008,000 winner’s share of the $5.6 million purse despite the growing dark and cold. While most everybody else pulled on sweaters for the final holes, the Wisconsin native stayed in his polo shirt out of superstition and familiarity.

Champions Tour
In Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii, Dan Forsman won the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship for his third Champions Tour title, closing with a 3-under 69 in windy conditions for a two-stroke victory over St. George’s Jay Don Blake.

The 53-year-old Forsman, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, finished with a 15-under 201 total at Hualalai Resort and earned $307,000 in the 41-man event. Blake birdied the final hole for a 67.

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Tiger Woods has criticised former swing coach Hank Haney for writing a tell-all book about their years together, saying the move was "unprofessional and very disappointing". In an interview with ESPN, Woods said he had no plans to read The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods when it hits bookstores on March 27, the week before the Masters.

"I think it's unprofessional and very disappointing, especially because it's someone I worked with and trusted as a friend," Woods said. "There have been other one-sided books about me and I think people understand that this book is about money. I'm not going to waste my time reading it."

Haney had unique access to the privacy-minded 14-time major winner during a six-year span that ended in May of 2010, saying he spent 110 days a year with Woods, as many as 30 days annually at his home. oods won 31 titles, six of them majors, while working with Haney.

A synopsis of the book says Woods feared "the big miss", a woeful shot that would doom his chances on a hole or in a tournament. And it mentions Haney's observations on how Woods used a variety of tactics to keep even friends and family from getting too close to him.

Woods plans to make his 2012 season debut this month at Abu Dhabi and will play his first US PGA event two weeks later at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Woods' first win since his 2010 split from Haney and his 2009 sex scandal came last month at a charity event in a field of 18.

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They say change is good. They, in this case, are PGA Tour players who’ll be teeing it up today in La Quinta at the Humana Challenge — formerly the Bob Hope Classic. More than the name is different, of course: Only three courses will be used, instead of the usual four-course rotation. PGA West’s Nicklaus Private and Palmer Private are in the mix, along with La Quinta Country Club. The event — played this year in partnership with the Clinton Foundation — will be four rounds instead of five. Each foursome will feature two amateurs and two pros instead of the previous, sometimes slow-going three-amateurs-to-one-pro ratio.

“I think it’s all really good change,” said Idyllwild native Brendan Steele, a PGA Tour sophomore who’ll make his second start at the tournament at 10:20 this morning at the Nicklaus Course. The problem, Steele said, was logistical. The tournament used to begin Wednesday, which meant players had to rush from the Sony Open, the first full-field event in Hawaii, to California. And then they’d have to cram to prepare to play four courses.

“That’s a really, really hard, quick turnaround,” Steele said by phone. “Guys like the tournament and they like the course and the weather and the area, but the format held it back. I think it’ll get better this year and every year from here on out.”

For his part, Steele — who’ll be paired today with actor Greg Kinnear, an Oscar nominee for his supporting role in 1997’s “As Good as It Gets” — said he has plans on playing the event from here on out.
He got to begin his season at the Tournament of Champions two weeks ago, but he skipped the Sony Open so he’d be sharp for the Humana — where last season he missed the cut after shooting a second-round 71 and a third-round 74.

“I want to be ready for the Hope, that’s the home game for me,” said Steele, who honed his game at Hemet High and UC Riverside. “It was tough last year coming from Hawaii, but not having to do that this year, I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

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BANKS owed hundreds of millions by Sean Quinn's family have put a world-renowned golf and leisure resort on the market. The Belfry, a 550-acre resort in Warwickshire in the UK, has hosted four Ryder Cups and many European Tour events. It was considered a trophy asset when the Quinn family bought it in 2005 for £186m (€225m).

The resort was controlled by Mr Quinn's son, Sean Junior. The family borrowed the money from Bank of Ireland, Barclays and Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to buy it. They now want it sold so they can claw back their loans. No guide price has been advertised but it is likely to fetch less than half the amount the Quinns paid.

The Quinns' property company itself valued the Belfry at just £88m (€106m) in its last set of accounts. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, which has been appointed to handle the sale, said a lot of international buyers had been eyeing-up the 324-bedroom hotel and its three golf courses. Some reports say a wealthy Malaysian investor has already made a £90m (€110m) offer.

George Nicholas, who is dealing with the sale, said investors from around the globe, and particularly from Asia, were expressing interest. "The Belfry is an iconic golf destination, combining an internationally recognised brand with a successfully trading business," he said. "Quality sales of this nature rarely come on the market."

It expects it could take four to six months at least to sell it. The Quinn family had ambitious plans for the Belfry. They envisaged a £150m (€180m) development there that included knocking down the hotel and building a new five-star facility in its place. These plans were never pursued, though, as the property crash brought Sean Quinn's empire down.

The Belfry is said to be trading well. Situated near Birmingham, the resort claims to have had a strong year in 2011. Its managing director, Nigel Gray, said yesterday it was "highly profitable" and that it was very much "business as usual". It was voted England's leading golf resort last year.

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Matt Every felt a lot more comfortable with a golf club in his hand instead of a microphone. Starting to feel nerves from his rare position atop the leaderboard, Every steadied himself after a sluggish start and birdied his final hole Saturday for a 2-under 68, leaving him tied with 47-year-old Jeff Maggert going into the final day of the Sony Open.

Maggert, who missed part of last season after surgery on his right shoulder, eagled the easy par-5 ninth for the second straight day and shot a 64 for his first good chance at winning in nearly six years.

They were at 12-under 198, although 16 players were within four shots of the lead. The toughest time Every has had all week came after his second round Friday. He was honest to a fault while discussing his PGA Tour suspension as a rookie his rookie season in 2010 after he was arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge during the John Deere Classic. He looked uncomfortable when the topic was raised in a Golf Channel interview moments later.

Every attributed a tough night of sleep to his two-shot lead, figuringhe had more to lose than to gain. But when he arrived at the course, he felt as calm as the conditions. “I actually enjoyed myself a lot today, which was kind of weird,” Every said. “Because yesterday and going into today ... I was kind of dreading today. But then when I got out here, I was like, ‘I’m so glad I get to play golf today.’“If you play well ... not that interviews are bad,” he said. “This is my first time really being in contention. I don’t know what those guys go through every week. Now I’m starting to realize it.”

Charles Howell III, who has had five finishes in the top five at the Sony Open, gave himself another opportunity with a 66. He was in the group at 10-under 200. Pebble Beach winner D.A. Points shot 64 and was another shot back, while the large group at 8-under 202 included Steve Stricker, trying to join Ernie Els in 203 as the only players to sweep the Hawaii events.

The surprise was Maggert.
Not only is he closing in on the 50-and-older Champions Tour, he finally took care of a bone spur in his right shoulder that has been bothering him the last few years. Maggert had surgery in June and had a medical exemption for part of this year, but he went to Q-school for a backup plan.

It worked. He made it through Q-school for a little more security, and then built more momentum with a solid day. He had to scramble for par on the opening hole, and the rest of the day felt easy. Every, meanwhile, hasn’t had the easiest time this week, and it was alarming to hear him say with his first chance to win on the PGA Tour, “I’m just ready to get it over with.”It could have slipped away from him Saturday.

He went long of the green at No. 2 to make bogey, and his round was close to getting away from him. His approach on the third hole flirted with the water down the left side and barely was safe. He chipped to 8 feet and made par.

“If I miss that — 2 over after three — and then the next thing you know, I could have made another bogey and then it’s just kind of survival mode,” he said. But he steadied himself quickly, helped by a 30-foot birdie putt on the eighth and a two-putt birdie on the ninth that allowed him to regain control.

What he couldn’t control was Maggert, who is starting to feel healthy again. Along with the shoulder, Maggert says he hasn’t felt right since he broke a rib early in 2007 during a snow skiing trip — but the injury didn’t happen on the slopes.

“It was afterwards, coming out of the grocery store,” he said. “True story. Tripped on the ice and fell and broke my rib on the curb.”The timing couldn’t have been worse. Maggert had won the St. Jude Classic in 2006 and was on the ski trip before going to Maui for the Tournament of Champions. He tried to play through the pain, and thinks it affected the technique in his swing.

“I feel like it’s a lot better than it has been,” he said. The leaderboard is so bunched that Duffy Waldorf was walking up to the ninth green and saw that he was tied for 40th. He also noticed that he was only five shots out of the lead.

“It’s such a good bunching of players, it was like, ‘Well, if I go make some more birdies, I might get back in it.’ And that’s what happened on the back side,” he said. Waldorf shot 31 on the back for a 66, and goes into the final day only three shots behind.

DIVOTS: Erik Compton made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 70. Turns out he needed that to make the 54-hole cut on the number. The day before, he went birdie-eagle to make the 36-hole cut. ... Webb Simpson has not finished out of the top 10 since the Tour Championship. He goes into the final round in a tie for 61st. ... The par-5 ninth played to an average score of 4.15. It has yielded 38 eagles this week.

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Want to know the quickest may to get a professional golfer to go from calm to enraged? Ask him for his opinion on slow play. Without a doubt, slow play is the biggest hot button issue in golf at the moment. With players vying for record purses each week, it makes sense that one would take extreme care with every approach shot and putt during a round.

A missed shot here or there could be the difference between taking home a seven-figure check and finishing in the middle of the pack. But in recent years, guys have been taking too much time over shots. National golf publications have released lists each year, ranking the worst slow play offenders on tour. Yet even the shame of being branded a slowpoke hasn't deterred some guys from continuing to take over a minute to hit a shot.

While the tour continues to turn a blind eye to the slow play epidemic currently plaguing the PGA Tour, current No. 1 Luke Donald decided give his slow play opinions on his Twitter account, after Steve Stricker and Jonathan Byrd were put on the clock during the final round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

I can understand a foursome having one or two guys slowing up play. But a twosome? There's no excuse to be two holes behind the second-to-last group in a limited field event. Heck, Donald even offered up a suggestion to fix the problem on the putting green -- and it's actually a good idea! But at the end of the day he realized, like most professional golfer already have, that fighting a battle against slow play is a lost cause at the moment.

It's hard to disagree with Donald. One of the main reasons the golfing population has dwindled in recent years is due in part to the amount of time it takes to play a round of golf. Professional golfers are supposed to be the example for amateur golfer, but if they refuse to follow the pace of play rules, casual golfers will start to consider slow play to be the norm -- and we all know that's the worst possible scenario for the sport.

If the slow play at the Hyundai taught us anything, it's that the PGA Tour needs to start enforcing severe punishments for repeat offenders -- taking away strokes or clubs would do it -- something they've failed to do in the past. Doing so might just turn this problem around.

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South Australian, Jordan Sherratt, has come out on top at the Australian Master of the Amateurs SRIXON AM-PRO Invitational at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. A field of 54 professionals teamed with elite amateurs and corporate sponsors and guests in a team best ball event on the famed Royal Melbourne west course.
After the morning round, Dean Kinney from Sydney had the clubhouse lead on a sparkling 13 under 59 in blustery conditions.

The course was perfectly conditioned and with the breeze easing slightly for the afternoon field Kinney’s score was in trouble early. The teams format meant that the groups best net score for each hole counted on the card with a number of teams taking full advantage posting outward nine scores of 11 under 25.
Jordan Sherratt was joined by Horsham Golf Club professional Richard Alsop on 16 under at the end of regulation play. A playoff on the 18th hole was then required to separate the pair for the $10,000 first prize. Sherratt only required the one playoff hole to prevail and take the winners cheque in the Australian Master of the Amateurs SRIXON AM-PRO Invitational.

Sherratt who won the Australian Master of the Amateurs in 2010 as an amateur expressed his thanks to Tournament Directors Peter and Angela Mann for the opportunity to play in the event. In his presentation speech Sherratt also made special mention of Srixon and managing director Martin Wright. Srixon’s ongoing support of this event provides PGA Members the opportunity to compete on one of Australia’s great golf courses for significant prize money in a unique teams event.

The Australian Master of the Amateurs SRIXON AM-PRO Invitational was a prelude for the 54 amateurs from ten different countries who tee-off in the opening round of the 2012 Australian Master of the Amateurs. Four of the world’s top 20 players are in this year’s field, headed by reigning US amateur champion Kelly Kraft. Current Australian amateur champ Matthew Stieger heads the local contingent. Youngest in the field is 13 year old Tian Lang Guan, currently the highest ranked Chinese player on the R and A world amateur rankings. Players hit off from 8:30 Tuesday morning in the first of four rounds to decide who will wear the 2012 “Green Jacket”.

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He's still hard at work, though. "I've always had to kind of prove myself. I swear to you, still in the back of my mind, I still think I've got a lot to prove," the reigning rookie of the year and PGA champion said at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii, where he's one of 28 players who will kick off the 2012 PGA Tour season Friday. "I look at a guy like Steve Stricker or these big name guys that are out there working hard, and they don't seem to be relaxing at all."

So with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean as his backdrop and palm trees gently swaying nearby, Bradley went back to pounding balls on the range of the Plantation Course, which plays host to the season opener, the first of 45 official events this season worth about $280 million in purse money.
"I'm ready to put (2011) behind me and start over again this year," said Bradley, who won twice last year and pocketed $3.75 million. "I still need to have that mentality that I had last year of trying to keep my card, trying to be a rookie and have that chip on my shoulder. The biggest thing for me is to continue to be hungry."

Bradley, 25, is the youngest player in the field, which is missing three of the four major winners —Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke— and world No. 1 Luke Donald among the 11 other eligible winners who bypassed the event because of injury and other commitments.

Still, Bradley is one of six multiple winners in the field, and he's one of five rookies in Hawaii who won in 2011. Two big names — multiple major winners Nick Faldo and Johnny Miller— will be co-analysts on Golf Channel for the first time. The two are looking toward a promising season. "New seasons always bring new hope," Faldo said. "A lot happened in the offseason and the main season. I'm wondering whether or not we're on a new cycle of dominant players."

There once was the Big Three of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, Faldo said. Then there was the Big Six of Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Jose Maria Olazabal, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam, said Faldo, who curiously left himself out of that grouping. Then there was the Big Five of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen. Then there was basically Woods by himself.

"Now I'm wondering if we will start a new era with Luke, Tiger, (Lee) Westwood, Rory, and maybe Keegan Bradley, too, who looks like he can take the next step," Faldo said. "Will Jason Day step up? Adam Scott? Will Martin Kaymer emerge from under the radar? Maybe we will get back to the Big Six. "That's what I am kind of sensing."Miller said an abundance of good stories in 2011, and the way Woods ended the season on a high note, leads well into 2012. "There are a lot of good things happening," he said. Especially among the younger set of players, Miller added, as he mentioned Bradley, Day, Webb Simpson, Nick Watney, Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler and Jhonattan Vegas.

"There are so many good young players, but I just think Rory's the guy among the younger set," Miller said. "But I would like to see the young guys want to win more than once a year. Somehow, the mentality is that if you win once or twice, and have six or seven top-10s and win $3.5, $4 million dollars, everything is great. In our era, to get any attention, you had to win four or five times, and that's what we shot for."
Sounds like Bradley could be Miller's guy.
Stats of the week

1,147,840: Shots hit in FedExCup stroke-play events in 2011, the last of which was a 3-foot putt made by Bill Haas to defeat Hunter Mahan in a three-hole playoff at The Tour Championship to win the FedExCup and the $10 million grand prize. Friday, Bryce Molder will hit the first shot of the season to begin the sixth year-long FedExCup competition.

663: Yards in length of the par-5 18th hole on the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort. The downhill finisher was the second longest of the 918 holes used on the PGA Tour last season, trailing only the 667-yard 16th at Firestone South. The 18th yielded just two eagles in last year's Hyundai Tournament of Champions. In the first round, Bubba Watson hit a driver off the deck from 305 yards to just 11 feet and canned the eagle putt. Robert Garrigus made the other eagle, hitting a 295-yard 5-wood to 57 feet and then making the putt.

73: Par of the Plantation Course, the only one of 51 courses used on the PGA Tour in 2011 that had a par above 72. The course has four par-5s, three par-3s and 11 par-4s, the toughest being the 520-yard first hole, which played 0.172 strokes above par last year.

13: Number of players in the field who won a PGA Tour event in 2011 while they were in their 20s.
6: Number of players in the field who were multiple winners in 2011 — Tour Rookie of the Year and PGA champion Keegan Bradley, Steve Stricker, Webb Simpson, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson and Mark Wilson.

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OTTAWA—A group of Canadian lawmakers is teeing off at what the country's golfers say is a decades-old unfair rule in the country's tax law.

Since 1971, Canadians have been barred from deducting greens fees for business-related golf outings. Canadian companies and businessmen can deduct hockey and other professional sports events, theater and concert tickets, and pricey meals at the country's finest restaurants, so long as they are business-related. But deducting a host of golf-related expenses—a staple of the tax code south of the border in the U.S.—is out of bounds.

A caucus of about two dozen parliamentarians from across all political stripes is pushing to persuade Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, himself an occasional golfer, to throw out the old law—introduced in an era when policy makers still viewed golf as an elitist pursuit. Today, golf is the country's most popular recreational activity, beating out even the national pastime of hockey, according to the country's statistics agency.

"It seems to me times have changed, and there's a chance to revisit this," said Russ Hiebert, a member of the ruling Conservative party. He represents an area south of Vancouver that is home to eight golf courses and a driving range.

Peter Stoffer, a member of the left-leaning opposition New Democratic Party, agrees. He says golf is environmentally friendly; it's a game that's often used to help raise cash for charity; and it promotes a healthy lifestyle among Canada's youth. His district, near Halifax, is home to seven golf courses.

Behind the legislative assault is an industry that has long targeted the law. The last attempt to revoke the measure fizzled in 2008, when the global financial crisis threatened to sap Canada's finances. The effort to repeal the law seemed a low priority at the time.

Canada's economy has recovered better than most other industrial countries. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to slash expenses to balance the budget, he has also pushed through a number of big corporate tax cuts and a series of smaller tax-relief measures.

Those include breaks for parents whose kids enroll in sports and bigger tax deductions for long-haul truck drivers. The golf industry thinks the timing is right to be rid of the 1971 measure.

"As an industry, we are getting stepped on unfairly here," says Jeff Calderwood, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada. "No one else would tolerate it, so why should we." Mr. Calderwood said his association isn't contributing to any politicians' campaigns, and Canada's strict campaign-financing laws prohibit companies and unions from making political donations.

"I know people may see an ulterior motive but the reality is we just really like the game of golf, and we think the sport should be treated fairly as per other industries out there," says Mr. Stoffer, the NDP legislator.

Mr. Stoffer said the golf caucus sent a letter in mid-November to Mr. Flaherty, asking that the government reconsider golf's treatment under Canadian tax law. The hope is that changes would be forthcoming in the federal 2012 budget, due to be tabled some time in early 2012.

A spokesman for Canada's finance department, which is responsible for writing the tax laws, said golf is excluded because the "business" component tied to a round of golf "may often not be significant." Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Flaherty declined to comment, or confirm receipt of a letter from the Parliamentary golf caucus.

The cost of reversing the policy "wouldn't be insignificant," said Leonard Farber, a former senior policy maker in Canada's finance department and now an adviser at global law firm Norton Rose. Canadian government officials said it would be difficult to offer an estimate of lost revenue because deductions for golf have been excluded for the past 40 years.

Golf's special treatment under Canada's tax code has its genesis in the 1960s, when the game was targeted by a special government commission looking at whether wealthy Canadians were exploiting tax loopholes.

Geoffrey Hale, a tax-history expert and political science professor at Alberta's University of Lethbridge, said policy makers were swept up in the "egalitarian sense of the moment" when tax breaks for golf were nixed. Envy, though, was also a factor, he said.

"It was partly a function of civil servants saying, '[Business executives] can do this for recreational purposes, but we can't, and therefore why should we give you a tax break if we are writing the tax laws," he said.

Since then, policy makers have relented a bit. In 1997, tax officials ruled meals and beverages consumed in the clubhouse were eligible for a 50% deduction—the same deduction available for most other forms of business entertainment, such as restaurants and bars not located on a golf course.

Truck salesman Duncan Gillis is one of many business duffers hoping Parliament will go further. Nova Scotia-based Mr. Gillis has battled Canada's tax authorities over the years about his greens fees and says a golf game is crucial for winning and keeping customers. "With a round of golf, you have them for the whole day—which is a lot better than a 20-minute or half-hour sales call," Mr. Gillis said. "You get to know a lot about the customer, and he's is learning a lot more about you."

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